When the Devil joined Facebook!

If you were to bring up technology today in a coffee house discussion, people would probably get excited and go on and on about shows, blogs, FB media posts etc. But one subject that I doubt would come up, or a topic that would not be much discussed might be the moral decline of society over the last 60 years. The increase in pornography addiction, adultery, divorce and decrease in personal relationships and the overall state of our society as a whole can be directly related to this. Society has always had its problems and this is not a new thing. In fact societies since the beginning of time have suffered these issues. But what is the real impact on society due to the increase in technology?

Of course there are amazing things that we get from this explosion of plastic and touch screens, like advancements in emergency response and instant communication. We are sharing experiences from across the world in an instant, watching things unfold from the other side of the world and being able to react immediately. We can find long lost relatives and keep in touch with family and friends in better ways than ever imagined (although there was some romance lost with the end of the telegram). And let’s not forget about the increase in unlimited amounts of information at your fingertips. I mean they say everything on the internet is true, right?

But what’s the impact on our families? Here we are now with science and technology making major advancements daily, and it seems like every time you turn around the new product has blown away the previous product.  But with all this knowledge and access at hand, the evil one finds an even new way to creep in. Now we have an increase in online sexual predators and bullying, which has made a huge impact on the teen suicide rates. Teen pregnancy and young people being able to access porn at the drop of a dime has sky rocketed (and been made popular). Men are losing their jobs, wives and kids because of their addiction to porn and some started a very young age. Divorce and infidelity have rocked homes. And what about family dinner time, the one place that was once held sacred where we would gather around and explore the ups and downs of the day. I am obviously not the first one to say this, but we’ve traded real relationships for fake ones. Even to the extent that we communicate with our families via text and posts, uploads and online friend groups. Now we don’t have to call mom at the end of the day and express our worries and concerns, we just update our status and Bam all our fake friends chime in and we are saved.

Here is a brief history of technology:

1945 to 1955 – television in home is made popular

About 1970 – cable is introduced

1990’s the first WWW. Breaks in on scene

1995 - Plasma TVs - (14k to start, WOW!!!)

1998 – Google is created(now nothing will ever go without being found or answered)

1999 – The First blackberry(the start of the smart phone addiction. The crackberries takes like crackberry)

2003 – myspace (huh?)

2005 – facebook and youtube

2006 – Twitter

2007 – First iphone is created

Now it makes you wonder, what have we done for 6000 years before all these things came along? How could we have possibly made it through the day without them? I personally believe all things are good to an extent. The good use of Television and other tech can create terrific things. Businesses flourish and the world economy booms. Or does it? Retail stores are smaller, and people do not get out as much as used to buy their products. You can get everything online and shipped to your door. Convenient, yes, but what about jobs? It’s no longer even about customer service; it’s all about the product. How about the ever so increasing rise in identity theft and hackers? Blockbuster video went out of business for crying out loud because everything is “streamed.” I like netflix as much as the next guy but I also occasionally enjoy a trip to the movie store to pick a family movie together, it gets you out of the house an interacting with people on a human level. I still remember the little movie store were my pops would take me to get a VHS tape, it was a small little building but I still remember those trips. Now what? “ I remember when my dad used to take me to Redbox, or we used sit on the couch and type in names of movies on the TV to find something new.” LAME!!!!

I enjoy the human interaction; in fact I like it so much I try to avoid the drive through because I like stretching my legs and a little face to face communication. Heck I think soon we will be ordering our food from a robot instead of a waiter like in back to the future. I mean you can’t even order a fake pizza anymore and have it delivered to your neighbors house because everything is online nowadays…wait a second! I was just kidding about that one.

I use all these products because it’s a sign of the times and I pretty much have too, but man do I wish the pace would just slow down. I mean I couldn’t get out of a conversation alive if I sat here and told someone I don’t watch TV, sports, or have a facebook account.  My phone is a flip phone and I’ve never heard of twitter. I buy my books from a store and make my own dinner at home. My children and I have a two way dialogue and my wife and I read to each other out the bible at night. Talk about making someone’s head explodes. If they were not born prior to 1990, they would think you were some kind of alien and needed an exorcism. Folks we have to get back to the world we grew up in, our children need some air and our families need some replenishing. My kids are lucky because Daddy don’t play that crap. I have cable because my wife prefers it and a TV because I used to like to watch movies, but good ones are hard to find lately. They have some technology but I limit the crap out of it and I force them to use their creativity most days. I have an ipad but surprisingly I am not in the least bit drawn to it, most days I can’t even remember where I put the darn thing. My only addiction is my iphone which I make a point to leave somewhere in my house unseen after I get home most days. I was considering getting rid of my FB account, but much like my blog, no one cares to hear what I have to say on social media anyhow. I feel sorry for this next generation coming up, because Lord knows how they are going to fair when they are one day forced to look at people in the eye when speaking to them, and acknowledge the world outside of a screen.  

"so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11